By Adedapo Adesanya
The National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange depreciated by 0.21 per cent on the first trading session after the Easter holidays.
The NASD OTC Exchange resumed trading on Tuesday but it was taken over by the bears after a long reign of the bulls as a result of the demand for shares of FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc.
At the market yesterday, FrieslandCampina depreciated by N2.25 or 1.1 per cent to settle for the session at N197.75 per unit versus N200.00 per unit it closed at the last trading day, which was Thursday.
This depleted the market capitalisation by N2.2 billion to N1.02 trillion from N1.03 trillion, while the NASD Unlisted Securities Index (NSI) decreased by 1.67 points to wrap the session at 778.58 points compared with 780.25 points recorded in the previous session.
During the session, there was a rise in the volume of securities traded at the bourse by 74.9 per cent to 2.1 million units from 1.2 million units, while the value of stocks transacted by market participants grew by 1,999.1 per cent to N387.7 million from N18.5 million, with the number of deals increased by 85.7 per cent to 26 deals from 14 deals.
AG Mortgage Plc closed the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with a turnover of 2.3 billion units valued at N1.2 billion, followed by Central Securities Clearing System Plc (CSCS) with 660.7 million units worth N13.9 billion, and NASD Plc with 43.3 million units valued at N466.6 million.
On the flip side, CSCS Plc was the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis with the sale of 660.7 million units worth N13.9 billion, trailed by AG Mortgage Plc with 2.3 billion units valued at N1.2 billion, and FrieslandCampina with 4.9 million units valued at N685.7 million.
